A 25-year-old Annapolis man was sentenced to six years in prison Monday after dragging and injuring a police officer with his car earlier this year.
Following a one-day trial in August, a jury found T’reiko Medley guilty of second-degree assault and several traffic violations, and absolving him of the felony assault charge brought by prosecutors.
Even so, Assistant State’s Attorneys Joshua Adrian and Brian Pritchard pressed the court Monday for a 10-year sentence. They argued Medley’s “lack of regard for police” before and after the hit-and-run, as well as the danger he put Anne Arundel Police Cpl. Rachel Storm in justified a sentence that exceeds state sentencing recommendations.
“She is very lucky not to have been hurt more,” Adrian said.
On Feb. 21, Medley was at the Liberty Gas Station on West Street in Annapolis filling up a white Infiniti sedan when Storm blocked the car. According to a news release at the time, the car was suspected of being stolen and police said Storm had run the license plate before turning into the station. Video footage played in court showed the lights on Storm’s cruiser were activated.
Medley soon left the gas station market and got into the car. Storm approached and attempted to stop him, opening his driver’s side door, but Medley quickly put the vehicle into reverse.
The open door dragged Storm about 10 feet before she collided with another vehicle outside the store. She testified she was still receiving treatment for her injuries. Her foot had been run over and she had hit her head on the second car.
“I’m a person,” she said. “I can’t stop a car.”
Before the Infiniti was out of sight, Storm relayed the license plate number over her radio.
“We are grateful that Cpl. Storm survived this potentially deadly encounter,” Anne Arundel Police Chief Amal Awad said in a statement, “and we are thankful justice was served.”
Medley was not charged with vehicle theft, or any related charges and Pritchard read a stipulation to the jury in August that the state was not accusing him of that crime.
On Monday, public defender Tovia Edmonds told Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Robert Thompson her client had been without a support system for years and had struggled with the death of his father in 2021 and his mother a year later.
To fill that void, the defendant began abusing drugs, which his attorney said “exacerbated the path Mr. Medley was going down.”
Previous interactions with the law ended with probation before judgment and therefore, little intervention. Those interactions, Edmonds said, were the result of decisions made by a boy. But now that Medley is becoming a man, she said rehabilitation should be the goal and she proposed treatment through the Maryland Department of Health or supervision through the Drug Court program.
When given the opportunity to address the court, Medley said he does not believe he will get the help he needs in the Division of Corrections. He said he was “taking everything wrong” and behaving out of helplessness after his parents’ deaths.
“I would like to get rehabilitated,” Medley said. His attorney added that if her client is given the opportunity to help himself and does not take advantage of it, the “DOC isn’t going anywhere.”
Though prosecutors were strongly opposed to both of Edmond’s proposals, Thompson said he was “all for rehabilitation.” However, the judge said Medley needed to think more about what help may look like for him and what he would hope to get out of it.
“The timing’s not right for that at this moment,” Thompson said.
Medley’s partner attended his hearing Monday. For most of the hearing, their 1-year-old son was tended to outside by his grandfather. After the sentence was rendered, the child was brought in behind Medley, who stared at his son before turning to speak with his attorney.